Thursday 9th February 2012
by JamesThe main thing I don’t like about this cartoon is that it overly pathologizes the students in the classroom. It does effectively home in on some resonant misgivings, though: that the approach in generic ‘education reform’ tends to focus on what teachers do wrong instead of right, that the media and the generic politician tend to love this framing (we need to get rid of these incompetent teachers!) and that the challenges of teaching in our school system today–from the complex range of circumstances our students may be facing to the mania of over testing– are very real.
Thoughts? What might this teacher say in response to this particular framing and accusation?
What's Wrong With This Picture?
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I am a teacher at the Blackstone and Boston T+ Network Coordinator at Teach Plus. Here’s my concern with this picture: As the teacher looks out at her students’ seats all she sees are the challenges that they came in with. As a teacher at a turnaround school, I see the potential danger each day of associating our children with the obstacles many of them face. It’s crucial, especially in light of such life circumstances, that all students have teachers who look at them and see possibilities, not limitations. Undeniably, the demands of the urban classroom are many. Still, I find it more empowering and rewarding as a teacher to focus on the aspects of my students’ lives that I can affect than on those out of my control.
I am a teacher at Brighton High School. I think the purpose of editorial cartoons IS to use hyperbole. We are in a time when teachers are being asked to cure the ills of society…and frankly it will not happen. The attack that is coming down on teachers is a smoke screen promoted by the business community who don’t want to see any economic reforms that cuts into their profits. Much easier to blame teachers. This cartoon is on point.
Well, frankly it gets at drive by PD. That’s an industry in need of critique….